The present invention relates to a flat clip or staple and more particularly to employment of a strip of flat material in coiled form, and the machine and process employed, to provide a staple for the attachment of articles.
Many of the manufactured articles currently provided on the market comprise elements which are fastened by staples or staple-like clips. In the manufacture of such articles by mass production techniques, it is necessary to introduce the staple or staples into the process in single form and thereafter present the staple to the articles to be fastened at some point in the manufacturing process where clinching of the staple takes place.
Generally the staples are manufactured and packaged in single form in an area remote from the assembly process. From this point the staples are transferred to the assembly area and are fed into the assembly line one at a time, for attachment of the manufactured article. In order to introduce the staples into the manufacturing process they may, for example, be deposited into a vibrating chamber, or other means which is effective, to align them into a form where they may be introduced singly to a subsequent clinching operation. Another common way to introduce the staples into the manufacturing process is, of course, in long clips of 50 to 200 staples wherein the independent staples have previously been lacquered together. These long clips of staples have traditionally been used in hand held staplers such as used to join the pages of business and commercial documents.
It has been found that in the packaging, transporting, and subsequent feeding of these long clips or the intermingling of the staples, such as that which occurs in a vibrator device, the staples may be deformed or otherwise rendered inadequate for use in the assembly process, due to the required handling of the staples prior to the clinching operation. Therefore, a problem of waste exists in the process described above, as many of the staples are incapable of use in the subsequent clinching operation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clip or staple which is retained in strip form during its manufacture and until just prior to the clinching process.
A further object of the invention is to provide a clip or staple which may be stored or retained in coil form during its manufacture.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a clip or staple wherein the clip or staple is subjected first to an initial forming process while retained in strip form and thereafter severed from the strip prior to introduction into a manufacturing process.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for manufacturing an array of clips or staples in strip form.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide a method of assembling articles which employs a strip having an array of clips or staples provided in planar form, disposed along the length of the strip.